Rotary extractor

ABSTRACT

A housing has a bottom wall provided with an opening and a starshaped rotor is turnable in the housing about a vertical axis. The rotor has radial walls adjacent ones of which define respective extraction chambers which serially move into registry with the opening as the rotor turns. A ring-shaped rail is fast with the rotor to turn therewith, and interiorly of the housing is located a plurality of supporting rollers which are angularly spaced about the housing and which are mounted for turning movement about stationary axes, with the rail being supported on these rollers. The journals for these rollers are located exteriorly of the housing. A drive arrangement using one or more drives effects turning of the rotor.

United States Patent Kehse et a1.

1 Jan. 14, 1975 [5 ROTARY EXTRACTOR 2,832,474 4/1958 Green 23/269 [75] Inventors: Wolfgang Kehse, Ahrensburg; Klaus Web", Hamburg, both of Germany 3,131,202 4/1964 Dcpmcr 23/2725 [73] Assignee: Extraktionslechnik Gesellschaft fur Anlagenbau H Hamburg, Primary ExaminerA. Louis Monaccll Germany Assistant Examiner-S. J. Emery [22] pl d D 4 1972 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michacl S. Striker 1e ec.

[21] Appl. No.: 311,677 [57] ABSTRACT A housing has a bottom wall provided with an opening 30 Foreign Application p i Data and a star-shaped rotor is turnable in the housing Dec 3 1971 German 2160014 about a vertical axis. The rotor has radial walls adjay cent ones of which define respective extraction chambers which serially move into registry with the opening '8' 23/269 1556 as the rotor turns. A ring-shaped rail is fast with the [58] Fieid 5 267 R, rotor to turn therewith, and interiorly of the housing is -127/6' 43 located a plurality of supporting rollers which are angularly s aced about the housing and which are d? te or turning movement about stationary axes, [56] References Cited m.oun

with the rail being supported on these rollers. The UNITED STATES PATENTS journals for these rollers are located exteriorly of the 805,229 11/1905 Parrish 23/269 hou ing, A drive arrangement using one or more godba drives effects turning of the rotor. arney..... 2,787,599 4/1957 Belden 1. 23/269 9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures a s p 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1; 1 1 1 4 I {t 1 1 1 1 E4 23 1] I 11 1 I 1 1 3,? ,1 1& 1

ROTARY EXTRACTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is generally concerned with an extractor, and more particularly with an extractor of the type in which a star-shaped rotor is turnable in a housing a bottom wall of which is provided with an opening, the rotor defining between its radially extending walls respective cells or extraction chambers which serially move into and out of registry with the opening in the bottom wall of the housing.

Extractors of this type are already well known in the art. They are used in order to remove from solids various soluble substances with the aid of a suitable solvent, which may be water or another substance. The principle of operation is to continuously introduce the solid matter in comminuted or otherwise broken-up form by pouring it from above into the respective extraction chambers. Once the material has been admitted into one such extraction chamber it moves in the same with the rotor, performing almost a complete revolution before the extraction chamber which is open at the bottom as well as at the top, moves into registry with an opening provided in the bottom wall of the housing underneath the rotor. As the chamber moves into registry with this opening the material falls out through the latter.

During the almost 360 revolution which the material performs with the rotor in its chamber, a solvent is admitted from above into the chamber at one or several locations. The solvent passes through the material in the chamber, releasing soluble substances from the material, and it then runs off through the screen-like bottom wall underneath the rotor into a collecting chamber from where it is removed. It is the usual custom to pass the solvent with some dissolved matter repeatedly through additional ones of the chambers, or through the same chamber, so that it becomes increasingly enriched with extracted matter. This type of extractor is, to name an example, used in the extraction of various oil-containing seeds and is also known as a carousel extractor. One type of prior-art extractor of this character uses a circular rail which surrounds the housing, being fixedly mounted on a supporting element of the extractor. The rotor carries a plurality of rollers mounted on radially directed shafts and which rollers engage and are supported in rolling relationship on the ring-shaped rail. In this type of construction the journals for the rollers are located within the housing which of course is always filled by solvent vapors which tend to attack the lubricant needed for the journals. As a result of this it is a frequent occurrence that the lubricant is in fact removed from the journals of the rollers and that the journals will thereupon freeze. Added to this disadvantage is the further one that solid material to be extracted sometimes will fall out of the rotor onto the rail and become encrusted on the surface over which the rollers must move; this of course leads to improper operation of the extractor.

This prior-art type of extractor is driven via a chain which surrounds the rotor, being trained thereabout, and which is driven by a chain sprocket. Experience has shown that such an arrangement is subject to frequent malfunction, aside from the fact that when a malfunction occurs it is usually inevitable to interrupt continuous operation of the extractor, especially because the driving sprocket must necessarily be located within the extractor housing,

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is thus a general object of the present invention to provide an improved extractor of the type here under discussion, which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.

More particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide an extractor of the type in question in which no bearings are located within the extractor housing.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved drive for rotating the rotor of the extractor, a drive which largely eliminates the possibilities of malfunction inherent in the prior art.

In keeping with these objects, and of others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, in an extractor of the type under discussion, in a combination which comprises a housing having a bottom wall provided with an opening, and a star-shaped rotor turnable in this housing about a vertical axis and having a plurality of radial walls adjacent ones of which define respective extraction chambers which serially register with the opening in response to turning of the rotor. A ring-shaped rail is fast with and surrounds the rotor for movement therewith. A plurality of supporting rollers are arranged interiorly of the housing, being angularly spaced thereabout, but the journals for the bearings for the rollers are located outside the housing. Each of these rollers is turnable about a fixed axis and the rail is supported on the rollers. Drive means is provided for turning the rotor about the vertical axis.

By having the journals of the rollers located exteriorly of the housing, it is impossible for solvent vapors to disadvantageously influence the lubricant required for thease journls. Thus, all lubricating points have been removed from the housing and the danger of damage due to seizing of the bearing from which the lubricant has been removed by action of the solvent vapor within the housing, has thus been avoided.

According to the invention it is particularly advantageous if the drive means is associated with and drives at least one of the shafts on which the supporting rollers are journalled. Thus, the transmission of rotary movement to the rotor is effected via the rollers and the ringshaped rail, eliminating the need for the chain and sprocket drive known from the prior art.

It has been found to be particularly advantageous if the supporting rollers are all driven, or rather if the shafts of the supporting rollers are all driven. In fact, it is advantageous if each shaft is provided with a separate drive, because this makes it possible to continue uninterrupted operation of the extractor even in the event that one of the drives should become defective, because the remaining drives are capable of continuing the rotation of-the rotor until repairs can be made.

The invention also proposes that the single or several driven shafts be provided with a pinion which engages in teeth of an annulus of teeth provided on the ringshaped rail itself. This eliminates the need for a frictional drive by frictional contact between the rail and the rollers, which inherently brings with it the possibility that slippage might occur, a possibility which is of course avoided by the meshing interengagement of the teeth on the pinion and on the rail. The teeth on the rail, incidentally, are advantageously provided on a downwardly directed surface of the rail, so that this surface cannot become encrusted with material that might drop onto it, thus avoiding the possibility of having to shut down the operation of the extractor due to such encrustations.

The drive or drives advantageously utilize fluid motors which are well known per se in the art. The use of fluid motors is particularly advantageous because it eliminates the danger of explosion that is inherent in the use of other types of drives which might produce sparks leading to the explosion of solvent vapors that are usually present in the vicinity of such an extractor.

The fluid motors may advantageously be connected in parallel with similar fluid motors provided for driving the feed arrangement and the removal arrangement for the apply and removal of the material to be extracted. This makes possible a complete synchronization of the entire operation of such a system, even if fluctuations in the operating speed should occur for whatever reasons.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic vertical section through an extractor according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a partially broken-away exploded view illustrating the extractor of FIGS. 1 and 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The extractor illustrated in FIGS. l-3 is constructed in accordance with the invention, representing one embodiment by way of example. It has a housing 1 which is closed and supported on a base or support 2. Located in the interior of the housing 1, which latter has a bottom wall 6 provided with an outlet opening 6' (see FIG. 3) is a star-shaped rotor 3. The rotor 3 has a plurality of walls 4a which extend between an outer cylindrical wall 4 and an inner cylindrical wall 5 of the rotor 3, subdividing the space between these cylindrical walls into a plurality of chambers 3a, which are the extraction chambers or cells. The opening 6' corresponds in outline to the sector-shaped configuration of these cells 3a and it will be understood that during each complete revolution of the rotor 3 each of the cells 3a (which are open at top and bottom) will move into and out of registry with the opening 6.

The bottom wall 6 is of screen-like configuration, being provided with a plurality of small openings which may have the form of concentric slits or may be otherwise configurated so that miscella can flow off through them. Miscella is, of course, the solvent which has become enriched with soluble material from the contents (e.g., comminuted solids) of the cells 3a.

Reference numeral 8 designates a supply arrangement utilizing a screw 9 for the continuing supply of the material to be extracted, e.g., comminuted solid matter. The material leaving through the opening 6' passes to a removal device 10. Although in FIG. 1 the device 10 has been shown as being located opposite the supply device 8, it is actually located next to the latter, so that the material to be extracted which is supplied by the device 8 must pass in the respective cell 3a through almost a complete revolution by the time it can leave the cell through the opening 6. The illustration in FIG. 1 has been chosen merely to provide a better overview.

A plurality of spray arrangements 11 are provided, located above the rotor 3 and being distributed over the circumference thereof, with these spray arrangements 11 receiving solvent (either fresh solvent or miscella) via the conduits 12 in which pumps 30 (see FIG. 3) are interposed. Reference numeral 31 designates an inlet for fresh solvent and if miscella is to be recirculated, it can be withdrawn from the collecting chamber 7 located beneath the bottom wall 6.

The extractor thus far described is essentially known in the art. Unlike the art, however, the extractor according to the present invention utilizes an annular shield 13 which is connected on the outer cylindrical wall 4 of the rotor 3 by means of elements 14 which also serve to reinforce it. Located beneath this is an annular rail 16 which completely surrounds the rotor 3 and is connected with the shield 13 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2 in particular. At the side facing towards the rotor 3 an angular profile 18 is secured (as by bolts or screws) over the entire circumference of the rail 16, having a downwardly directed free arm and being provided at the underside with an annulus of teeth 15.

A plurality of supporting rollers 26 is provided, being located in and angularly spaced about the housing 1 and each being journalled on a shaft 20 which provides for it a fixed axis of rotation. The rail 16 is supported on these rollers 26. The shafts 20 extend through a plate 21 which is mounted in the wall of the housing 1, and one or more of these shafts is driven by a fluid motor 22. Such fluid motors are well known and require no detail discussion. Each of the fluid motors is mounted on a console 25 which is fixedly connected with the stationary support of the extractor and on which the journals 23 and 24 for the respective shafts 20 are also provided. This means that the fluid motor 22 as well as the journals 23 and 24 are all located outside the housing 1, as the drawing clearly shows.

The roller 26 is in each case provided with a track 27 having a flank a rounded portion 28 of which merges into the slightly conical roller surface 29. The rounded portion 28 corresponds with the rounded edge 17 of the rail 16 and thus serves, in cooperation with the name, to maintain the rotor 3 centered.

Mounted on the driven shaft 20 (or on each of the driven shafts 20) is a pinion 19 which meshes with the teeth 15 of the profile 18. It goes without saying that the diameter of the roller 26 must be so accommodated to the teeth of the pinion 19 that the roller can roll on the contact face of the rail 16 without friction.

At least three of the rollers 26 and shafts 20 are necessary, being equi-angularly spaced about the housing 1. One, two or all of these shafts 20 may be driven, and

a single drive or individual drives for each shaft 20 may be provided. It is advantageous, however, if a larger number of shafts 20 is provided, with a corresponding number of rollers, for instance 8, and if each of the shafts has a separate drive. The arrangement is of course again such that the rollers and shafts are equiangularly spaced about the housing 1.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and de scribed as embodied in an extractor, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended:

1. In an extractor, a combination comprising a housing having a bottom wall provided with an opening; a star-shaped rotor turnable in said housing about a vertical axis and having a plurality of radial walls adjacent ones of which define respective extraction chambers which serially register with said opening in response to turning of said rotor; a ring-shaped rail fast with and surrounding said rotor within said housing for movement with said rotor, said rail having a radially outer upright circumferential surface portion; a plurality of shafts angularly spaced about said housing and each defining a fixed axis of rotation; a plurality of supporting rollers arranged interiorly of said housing each mounted on one of said shafts and being turnable about the respective fixed axis, said rail being supported on said rollers and the latter each having a flange extending transversely of the respective fixed axis of rotation and being located radially outwardly adjacent said circumferential surface portion so as to center said rail and thereby said rotor in said housing; journal means journalling the respective shafts and rollers for rotation and being wholly located exteriorly of said housing; and drive means for turning said rotor about said vertical axis, said extractor having no bearings located within the housing, and said rail and rollers being the sole support and centering means for the rotor.

2. A combination as defined in claim I, wherein there are three of said shafts and supporting rollers which are equi-angularly spaced about said housing.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means is associated with at least one of said shafts for rotating the same.

4. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means is arranged outside said housing.

5. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means comprises a plurality of drives each associated with one of said shafts for rotating the same.

6. A combination as defined in claim 3; further comprising an annulus of teeth provided on and extending circumferentially of said rail; and a pinion on at least said one shaft and meshing with the teeth of said annulus.

7. A combination as defined in claim 6, said rail having a downwardly facing side, and said teeth being provided on said side.

8. A combination as defined in claim 3, wherein said drive means comprises at least one fluid motor.

9. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said drives comprise respective fluid motors. 

1. IN AN EXTRACTOR, A COMBINATION COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING A BOTTOM WALL PROVIDED WITH AN OPENING; A STAR-SHAPED ROTOR TURNABLE IN SAID HOUSING ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF RADICAL WALLS ADJACENT ONES OF WHICH DEFINE RESPECTIVE EXTRACTION CHAMBERS WHICH SERIALLY REGISTER WITH SAID OPENING IN RESPONSE TO TURNING OF SAID ROTOR; A RING-SHAPED RAIL FAST WITH AND SURRONDING SAID ROTOR WITHIN SAID HOUSING FOR MOVEMENT WITH SAID ROTOR, SAID RAIL HAVING A RADIALLY OUTER UPRIGHT CIRCUMFERENTIAL SURFACE PORTION; A PLURALITY OF SHAFTS ANGULAR SPACED ABOUT SAID HOUSING AND EACH DEFINING A FIXED AXIS OF ROTATION; A PLURALITY OF SUPPORTING ROLLERS ARRANGED INTERIORLY OF SAID HOUSING EACH MOUNTED ON ONE OF SAID SHAFTS AND BEING TURNABLE ABOUT THE RESPECTIVE FIXED AXIS, SAID RAIL BEING SUPPORTED ON SAID ROLLERS AND THE LATTER EACH HAVING A FLANGE EXTENDING TRANSVERSLY OF THE RESPECTIVE FIXED AXIS OF ROTATION AND BEING LOCATED RADIALLY OUTWARDLY ADJACENT SAID CIRCUMFERENTIAL SURFACE PORTION SO AS TO CENTER SAID RAIL AND THEREBY SAID ROTOR IN SAID HOUSING; JOURNAL MEANS JOURNALLING THE RESPECTIVE SHAFTS AND ROLLERS FOR ROTATION AND BEING WHOLLY LOCATED EXTERIORLY OF SAID HOUSING; AND DRIVE MEANS FOR TURNING SAID ROTOR ABOUT SAID VERTICAL AXIS, SAID EXTRACTOR HAVING NO BEARINGS LOCATED WITHIN THE HOUSING, AND SAID RAIL AND ROLLERS BEING THE SOLE SUPPORT AND CENTERING MEANS FOR THE ROTOR.
 2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein there are three of said shafts and supporting rollers which are equi-angularly spaced about said housing.
 3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means is associated with at least one of said shafts for rotating the same.
 4. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means is arranged outside said housing.
 5. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means comprises a plurality of drives each associated with one of said shafts for rotating the same.
 6. A combination as defined in claim 3; further comprising an annulus of teeth provided on and extending circumferentially of said rail; and a pinion on at least said one shaft and meshing with the teeth of said annulus.
 7. A combination as defined in claim 6, said rail having a downwardly facing side, and said teeth being provided on said side.
 8. A combination as defined in claim 3, wherein said drive means comprises at least one fluid motor.
 9. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said drives comprise respective fluid motors. 